A Republican-led House panel
rejected a measure supporting the Obama administration’s finding
that the earth’s climate is warming because of human activity.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 31-20 along
party lines to turn down an amendment by Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, to a measure that would block
Environmental Protection Agency greenhouse-gas rules. The bill
also rejects the agency’s finding that carbon-dioxide emissions
endanger the public.

“This is science denial,” Waxman, former chairman of the
committee, said today after the vote. “It’s not worthy of this
committee.”

The committee debated the scientific evidence supporting a
conclusion that man-made climate change is a threat to the
public as lawmakers consider whether the EPA should regulate
carbon-dioxide pollution from smokestacks and tailpipes.
Republican lawmakers argued that the rules will hurt the economy
and offer no environmental benefit.

“Let’s not sell the American people an environmental
placebo that promises great things but delivers nothing,” said
Representative Brian Bilbray, a California Republican.

Bilbray said Democrats are ignoring the fact that the EPA
regulations won’t affect global climate change because they
won’t achieve the kind of emissions cuts that scientists say
need to occur to avoid dangerous global warming.

‘Hasn’t Been Proven’

Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican and skeptic
of the link between human activity and global warming, said the
EPA has never conducted its own study of climate change.

“I have yet to see them actually do a real scientific
analysis on their own,” he said. The theory of climate change
“hasn’t been proven,” he said.

Representative Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, said
the U.S. must act to cut greenhouse gases or “it may be too
late.”

The panel rejected three amendments supporting the science
of climate change today. The committee voted 31-21 against an
amendment by Representative Jay Inslee, a Washington Democrat,
that said Congress accepts that greenhouse gases pose a threat
to public health. It turned down a similar proposal by Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat.

The committee approved by voice vote an amendment from
Representative James Matheson, a Utah Democrat, that said
there’s an “established scientific concern over warming of the
climate system” and the U.S. has a role in resolving global
warming. The measure says Congress should develop policies that
don’t harm the economy.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky today
introduced an amendment to a measure dealing with legislation on
small businesses that also would block the EPA rules. The
measure is identical to legislation sponsored by House Energy
and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, a Michigan
Republican, according to an e-mailed statement from McConnell’s
office.